Moscato Poached Fruit Food

FRESH PEACH CREMOLATA

Steps:

• Place the sugar and 1 1/2 cups water in a small saucepan and simmer until the sugar dissolves. Set aside.
• Fill a large saucepan with water and bring it to a boil. Add the peaches and cook for between 15 seconds and 3 minutes, just until the skins peel off easily. (Ripe peaches will be ready sooner.) Transfer the peaches to a bowl of cool water, peel and cut in wedges into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, discarding the pits. Puree the peaches completely and pour into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
• Whisk the sugar syrup, Grand Marnier and vanilla seeds into the peach puree. Place the dish uncovered on a level shelf in the freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until it begins to crystallize around the edges. Scrape the entire mixture, including the edges, with the tines of a fork and freeze for another 30 minutes. Continue freezing and scraping every 30 minutes, until the mixture is soft-frozen. It should take 2 to 3 hours to freeze and will be good to serve for up to 4 hours afterward. If the mixture gets too frozen, allow it to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, and scrape it again with a dinner fork. Serve frozen in glasses.

PERFECT POACHED FRUIT

Steps:

• Place the vin santo, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla bean, and zests in a large, shallow saucepan with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Peel the pears, leaving the stems intact, and scoop out the seeds from the bottom with an apple corer or melon baller. Lay half the pears on their sides in the poaching liquid and simmer for 20 minutes, carefully turning the pears once with a spoon. Remove with a slotted spoon. Poach the remaining pears in the same liquid. Snip off the hard stems from the figs with scissors. Add the figs, apricots, prunes, and the first batch of poached pears and simmer 5 to 10 more minutes, until the pears and the dried fruit are all tender.
• Chill the pears, dried fruit, zests, and poaching liquid. Remove the cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla bean before serving if you like.

MOSCATO DI ASTI WITH PINEAPPLE JUICE

Steps:

• Pour the pineapple juice into 12 champagne flutes. Top of with chilled Moscato and serve immediately.

POACHED PEARS IN HONEY, GINGER AND CINNAMON SYRUP

Steps:

• In a saucepan large enough to hold all the pears, combine the wine, Simple Syrup, cinnamon stick halves, honey, and ginger. Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla bean and add the bean and seeds to the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the honey has melted. Add the pears and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally, until the pears are tender. Remove the pears from the liquid and allow to cool.
• Continue to simmer the liquid until it thickens and is reduced by half, about 15 to 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Remove the cinnamon stick halves and the vanilla bean and discard.
• Place each pear on a small serving plate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Drizzle with the honey, ginger and cinnamon syrup. Serve immediately.
• In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the syrup to cool.